A tour of Japan's Warring States Period

"Yes, the price of soybeans in Shinano seems to have increased by 30% to 40% this year, but it doesn't matter to me." Sukezaemon naturally spoke like a big businessman.

It turns out that big businessmen like them don't have much direct contact with farmers. They usually make large-scale purchases directly with lords. And because crops are on the market in large quantities after the autumn harvest, they can keep prices down, or even give them nothing.

After all, the life of the daimyo lord was not easy, and there were many people who owed money to this big businessman. If they used crops to repay their debts, it would be even more worthless.

That is to say, Sukezaemon and his friends were not very powerful in the mountains and had no way to directly contact the lord, so he personally came to arrange the manpower and purchase beans from each village to complete the necessary procurement plan.

"So Sukezaemon, what's the price of soybeans in Kinai Saiguo this year?" Koheita began to talk.

"Kyushu was hit by a storm at the end of summer this year. The soybeans and wheat in Toyotsu and other countries were greatly affected. As for Saxiang and other countries, the harvest this year is very good. The soybeans in Shikoku have a bumper harvest this year, and we can't plant the black beans in Tamba. Let's get started. Well, there was still civil war before I came here, and Ise Bay was waiting for the return ship, but the price was higher than that of Shinano."

Sukezaemon drank a full plate of wine and made no secret of the news. Anyway, Heita's main job was to kill people as a samurai, and his deputy job was to make money. He is not afraid that Xiao Pingtai will compete with him for business, which is very true.

"Does Sukezaemon know about Miso's business?" Koheita finally introduced the topic.

"Hey, Tansho was originally meant for miso." Sukezaemon had such a keen business acumen that he immediately reacted.

But soon what he said made Xiao Pingtai start to feel dizzy, and he even began to hesitate about this decision.

It turns out that it is different from what we think of as the ordinary business model of the Warring States Period, in which small farmers or small businessmen produced, and the daimyo lord directly sold it, or the daimyo lord designated merchants to contract sales.

Miso is neither independently produced or operated by a large commercial house, nor is it controlled by a big name in external sales. Instead, small businessmen and even peddlers carrying burdens operate the business on a retail basis. Large commercial houses seem to have given small businessmen a way out.

In fact, the deeper reason lies in the insufficient development of Dongguo and the inconvenience of water transportation!

The reason why Western Kyushu Miso can operate a large-scale monopoly is the extremely convenient shipping in the Seto Inland Sea. Almost any country can receive goods directly by water transportation. Everyone should know the terrain of Dongguo to some extent. Putting aside the Guandong Plain, the mountain roads in other places have eighteen bends!

No way!

We can only rely on small businessmen and salesmen to open trade routes in the mountains with their hands and shoulders, people and horses, and deliver miso to various large and small settlements among the mountains and hills.

Therefore, a business like Shinshu Miso, which seems to have small profits but quick turnover, is actually very profitable, has yet to be intervened by any big names or big merchants. Because the hard-earned money from this business is not that easy to earn at all.

Of course, what is certain now is that these small businessmen will be very sad next year, because the Shinano soybean harvest will fail, and their livelihoods may be over.

Koheita suddenly stared at Sukezaemon. If he could unify the acquisition and sales of Shinshu miso, he could take control of the opened trade routes and absorb small businessmen and salesmen who were familiar with the roads. In this way, not only can Nawu's tentacles be extended to various countries in the Kanto region, but it is also possible to obtain huge income of tens of thousands of dollars every year.

Sukezaemon also stared at Xiaoheita. The two of them must have thought of the same place.

"We have more than enough heart but not enough power." Sukezaemon still sighed. Next year is indeed a good time for them to get involved in Shinshu miso, but once they want to get involved in all aspects, this sales line will have at least more than two years. Tens of thousands of employees and their families need their houses to support them.

Such a large expense, even if it is as big as a house, is very difficult to cope with.

Furthermore, if such a huge trading system is suddenly annexed, the local businessmen in the Kanto countries will definitely rebound greatly and unite to oppose and exclude Nawu, which will make the gains outweigh the losses.

"Okay, okay, but this is a rare opportunity to make profits! Isn't Sukezaemon ready to take action?" Koheta is not in business anyway, so he just mentioned it, and his goal is still to use the help of Nawu Dakai The fleet of merchant ships and the Western countries' trade routes purchased the Western countries' bumper soybean harvest this year.

"As expected, Tansei has a plan. The funds I can mobilize are not too much. Three thousand kan can be used immediately to go to the West to purchase soybeans." Suezaemon is indeed rich, and he talks about three thousand kan, a huge sum of money.

"Okay, I have seven thousand guan!" "Sure, that's the seven thousand guan! But!" Before Xiao Pingtai could finish his words, Pingliu was startled.

These seven thousand guan were the coffin books of most of the savings of the middle and high-level samurai in the mountain. They were lent to Xiaopingtai for his long-running persimmon lacquer business. Xiaopingtai actually had the audacity to misappropriate the money.

If you lose! We really need to hang up the city gate!

"It doesn't matter, we're sure of it this time!" Of course Xiao Pingtai knew that these seven thousand guan were the lifeblood of the middle and high-level warriors in the mountain, but this money was saved to prepare for the five-year production period. If you don't move this money, the money will be dead.

If you move now, you might be able to earn a vote, so why don't you move? Not much of an adventure at all.

Heiroku saw that it was hard to say anything more when Heita was like this. Sukezaemon was still very optimistic about Heita's analysis, so the two finally decided to have a big fight.

The whole process was first financed by the Koheita and Nawu Ejiri branches, renting the transportation power of Nawu and the return shippers they were familiar with, and purchasing soybeans from Saikuni and Kinai on a large scale.

At the same time, borrowing Nawu's commercial resources to order a large number of wooden barrels also requires an extremely large quantity. Normally, if you have dozens of barrels, you can just find a cooper, but now there are tens of thousands of barrels, so you need to fully mobilize the energy of Suzaemon who has extensive business relationships.

The last one is salt, sea salt. Koheita can order a sufficient quantity with just one letter to Ejiri Castle Dai Konishiharazaemon. This doesn't require any trouble, as long as you have money.

The second step is to organize efforts and a huge pack team to transport these soybeans to the mountains. This is Xiaopingtai's relationship. The candle merchant he used to cooperate with now still organizes people to come to the mountain every month to pick up the goods.

Koheita could solve the transportation problem by just paying some money and letting these laborers who came to Yamauchi empty-handed go to Ejiri to carry soybeans first.

Where there is really insufficient transportation capacity, people spend money to hire peasants. Isn’t it easy to hire a few hardworking farmers during slack periods?

When the soybeans arrive in the mountains, all they have to do is wait and move.